LECTURES AND EVENTS
JST 2025.6.16, Monday
Dr. Yuichiro Anzai, Executive Academic Advisor and Professor Emeritus, Keio University, and Senior Advisor, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS)
‘Living in the Age of AI: Political, Economic, Social, Educational, Technological and Philosophical Implications’
Synopsis:
The ongoing progress of AI technology is having a tremendous impact on our contemporary society. AI is changing virtually everything in the world: from politics and national security to the economy and finance, to employment and legal systems, to educational methodologies, to ways of doing science, technology and healthcare, and to how we deal with ethical, moral and other philosophical issues. The impact of AI, with the worldwide spread of the Internet and other digital technologies, is comparable to the Industrial Revolution in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries that changed the whole world at the time. Dr. Anzai’s lecture will focus on this topic; considering what it means for us to live in this remarkable era of AI. The talk is entirely for people who have little or no knowledge of AI, hence there will be a brief introduction of what AI is. On the other hand, the lecture will refer to diverse topics, each inevitably brief, in such areas being affected by AI as politics, the economy, social life, education, technology and philosophy. Dr. Anzai hopes that his presentation will convey some ideas on how we can or should live in a world that is now drastically changing with the advancement of AI technology.
Brief Biography:
Dr. Yuichiro Anzai is Executive Academic Advisor and Professor Emeritus, Keio University, and Senior Advisor, the Japan Society for Promotion of Science (JSPS). He received Ph.D. in engineering in 1974, and further received a Ph.D. in philosophy in 2018, both from Keio University. Dr. Anzai has devoted his academic career to cognitive science and AI since the mid-1970’s: he is particularly known for his work on learning by doing and human interaction with robots. He had academic positions at Carnegie Mellon, Hokkaido, and Keio University, as well as visiting positions at the University of Edinburgh and McGill University. He also worked as the Dean of the School of Science and Technology (1993-2001), then as the President (2001-09), of Keio University: Japan’s oldest modern institution for higher learning, and as President (2011-18) of the JSPS: the representative research-funding agency of the Japanese government. Dr. Anzai has chaired a number of governmental organizations, including the Central Council for Education, the National Commission for UNESCO, and the Strategic Council for AI Technology under the Cabinet office, and he has also served for international organizations such as being the President of the Association of Pacific-Rim Universities, the Chair of the Global Research Council, and others. Dr. Anzai has published nearly four hundred single- and co-authored reviewed academic articles and books, including books in English such as: “Learning and Interaction: From Cognitive Theories to Epistemology” (2021, Keio University Press) and “Pattern Recognition and Machine Learning” (1992, Academic Press, English translation of the author’s Japanese book published in 1989). In addition, Dr. Anzai has received many awards, including being designated as a Person of Cultural Merit and the Medal of Purple Ribbon from the Japanese government, and receiving the Commandeur de l’Ordre des Palmes Académiques and Chevalier de l’Ordre national de la Légion d'honneur from the French government.
Online Lecture Programme 2025 Schedule
JST 2025 September 8th, Monday
Lecture by H.E. Mr. Justin Hayhurst, Australian Ambassador to Japan, the Embassy of Australia.
Lecture at the Embassy of Australia, this will be an in-person event
JST 2025 September 22nd, Monday
Mr. Paul Martin, Former Curator in the Japanese Section of the British Museum, and trustee of the Society for the Promotion of Japanese Sword Culture (NBSK)
‘An Introduction to the Beauty of Japanese Swords’
JST 2025 October 20th, Monday - 2025 Young Scholars’ Programme
Applications are welcome, please see the information below.
Final submission date is – 19 August (Monday), midnight JST.
JST 2025 November 17th, Monday
Professor Hirotaka Takeuchi, Harvard Business School
‘Nonaka's Knowledge Creation Theory and Its Global Impact’
2025 YOUNG SCHOLARS' PROGRAMME
Call for Papers
The Asiatic Society of Japan (ASJ) is Japan's oldest learned society, with its inaugural meeting in Yokohama in 1872. Inspired by the Royal Asiatic Societies of their day, ASJ's founders coordinated activities "to collect and publish information on subjects relating to Japan and other Asiatic Countries." Yet they intentionally differentiated ASJ from these affiliated societies at the outset by having established a "Society for scholarly gentlemen" rather than a society of scholars. The founders and earliest members were pillars of Japan's modernization and industrialization at the dawn of the Meiji Period. Physicians, engineers, barristers, missionaries, military officers, professors, and diplomats numbered among them, including Dr. James Hepburn, Sir Ernest Satow, Basil Hall Chamberlain, and William Aston. Today, the Society serves members of a general audience that have shared interests in Japan and the country’s myriad of connections with the world.
The Young Scholars’ Programme was initiated by the Society in 2006 at the suggestion of the Honorary Patron, HIH Princess Takamado, to give researchers at doctoral level the opportunity to present their research on Japan and/or Asia and answer questions on it in English. This year’s event will be held on Monday, 20 October. It will be held either entirely online or hybrid, so young scholars from around the world are encouraged to apply.
Requirements
The closing date for nominations this year is midnight on Monday, 18 August. All nominated candidates (to be first selected by a university professor or other nominator) should submit the following:
a) A provisional title for their presentation
b) Details of their field of research
c) A CV or brief biography
d) A formal letter of recommendation on headed notepaper from his/her academic supervisor supporting the application*
* Candidates may submit their materials directly to the Asiatic Society of Japan, via e-mail, to info@asjapan.org. However, the letter of recommendation should be submitted to info@asjapan.org by the academic supervisor (not the candidate).
Award
☆ Certificate of Recognition from the ASJ Board and HIH Princess Takamado, the Honorary Patron of the Asiatic Society of Japan
☆ Research award of 100,000 yen, courtesy of the Hugh E. Wilkinson Foundation
☆ Free ASJ membership for one year, courtesy of the Hugh E. Wilkinson Foundation
☆ Article to be submitted to the Transactions of the Asiatic Society of Japan, the Society’s annual journal
annual journal
Results
A maximum of four young scholars (up to age 35, although consideration will be given to those up to age 40) will be selected to give a presentation for 20 minutes each. Candidates will be notified of the selection results at the beginning of September.
* For further details, please e-mail the ASJ Office at info@asjapan.org, and title your e-mail ‘2025 Young Scholars’ Programme’